Mattress edge-sewing apparatus with operator&#39;s platform



Nov. 6, 1962 Filed May 15. 1959 J. A. CASH, SR.. ETA]. MATTRESS EDGE-SEWING APPARATUS WITH OPERATOR S PLATFORM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 CLUTCH- BRAKE DISC UNIT INVENTORS JAMES A. CASH SR.

DAVID R. CASH BY I I ATTORNEY Nov. 6, 1962 J. A. CASH. sR.. ETAL 3,062,160

MATTRESS EDGE-SEWING APPARATUS WITH OPERATORS PLATFORM Filed May 13. 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SEWING MACHINE l8 CLUTCH- BRAKE '[DISC- UNIT INVENTORS JAMES A. CASH 5R.

DAVID R. CASH ATTORNEY nite Tape edge, roll edge and other types of mattress edgesewing machines all conventionally comprise: a mattresssupporting table; a carriage mounted on the table for movement around its periphery; a sewing machine mounted on the carriage; and carriage mounted drive means for moving the carriage and operating the sewing machine. The present invention is applicable to the dif; ferent types of apparatus embraced within this class but, for the sake of clarity, is hereinafter described in connection with a mattress edge-sewing machine of the type used in closing a mattress cover.

In covering a mattress, the conventional practice comprises: (1) covering the bottom and peripheral surfaces of the mattress with a shallow pan-like cloth cover, having a bottom base panel and a border panel sewn together along the bottom edges of the cover; (2) placing the partly covered mattress on the mattress-supporting table with its uncovered surface facing upwardly; (3) spreading a top face panel over the top of the mattress; and (4) closing the mattress cover by operating the sewing machine to sew the peripheral edge of the top face panel to the upper edge of the border panel as the carriage moves around the table.

In conducting the closing operation, the operator stands on the front side of the machine facing rearwardly, overlaps the edges of the top and border panels, pulls the overlapped edges into and holds them in the sewing line of the machine and, as the machine moves forwardly around the table, walks backwardly continuing to perform the edge overlapping, pulling and holding operations. The energy used up and the care required by the closing operation necessitates the use of highly skilled labor, subjects that labor to fatigue and slows down production time.

The principal object of the invention is to overcome the foregoing difliculties in substantial measure and, more particularly, to effect a substantial reduction in the energy heretofore required in the performance of the mattress cover closing operation, lessen the possibility of fatigue and speed up the operation generally and enable the operator to work with care and skill over a longer period of time.

Other important objects are: to provide an improved form of carriage; and to improve the carriage-mounted drive means for moving the carriage and operating the sewing machine.

Another important object is to provide a machine of this type having a continuously opera-ting drive motor with a novel means for starting and stopping the movement of the carriage and the operation of the sewing machine simultaneously.

The principal object of the present invention is achieved simply by providing the carriage with a platform upon which the operator can stand to perform his mattress manipulating operations as the carriage travels around the table. With this arrangement, the operator rides the carriage while he works and thus is able to devote all of his energy and skill to the proper manipulation of the mattress. This substantially lessens the rate of fatigue and speeds up the operation. In addition, the driving means is improved by enabling an operator on the platform to stop and start the carriage moving and machine States Patent O pr- 1C sewing operations simultaneously either without requiring him to release the mattress or while permitting him to release the mattress but to maintain his hands free for other operations.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the mattress sewing apparatus, which is constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational outer side view of the carriage with its outer side wall and its housing cover removed;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along lines 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of the drive belts mounted in the carriage, this view being taken from the left hand side of the belt as seen in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section taken along lines 5-5 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the foot pedal operated portion of the carriage mounted drive means.

The mattress sewing apparatus, as illustrated, comprises: (1) a mattress sewing table; (2) a carriage mounted for movement around the periphery of the table; (3) a sewing machine mounted on the carriage; and (4) a carnage-mounted drive means for moving the carriage and operating the sewing machine.

MATTRESS SEWING TABLE The mattress sewing table 1 conventionally comprises: a base 2, having four corner posts also designated 2, and upper and lower rounded-corner rectangular trackways 3 and 4 mounted on the posts, the upper trackway having a rack 3a; and an upper table 5 having a rectangular table top, also designated 5, and four supporting legs 6, one depending from each corner of the top 5, each leg 6 being adjustably secured to the base to enable the elevation of the table top to be adjusted from time to time.

CARRIAGE The carriage comprises: a housing; means mounting the housing on the upper and lower trackways 3, 4 of the base; and an operators platform mounted on the carriage.

HOUSING The carriage housing 9 is in the form of a hollow upright elongate housing having an inside wall 10 on the table side of the housing: an outside wall 11, a front wall 12 and a rear wall 13. The inside wall 10 is inclined upwardly and outwardly away from the table while the outside wall 11 is detachably secured to the vertical edges of the front and rear walls 12 and 13.

HOUSING MOUNTING The carirage 9 has conventional wheeled engagement with the upper and lower trackways 3, 4 which support and guide the carriage during its movement around the base. Only one upper wheel 14 of the carriage mounting means is shown.

PLATFORM In accordance with one important feature of our invention, our apparatus includes transport means mounted for movement with the carriage to provide a conveyance upon which the operator of said apparatus may be operatively supported at the front end of the carriage to perform his mattress manipulating operations as the carriage travels around said table. In carrying out this feature, the carriage 9 is provided with a horizontal platform 15 which projects outwardly and forwardly from the lower end portion of its outside and front walls 11 and 12. The platform 15 is rigidly secured to the lower end of aoeareothe housing 9, preferably to the lower edges of allof its vertical walls. It provides a support upon which the operator may stand and ride as he operates the machine in sewing a mattress. The platform extends inwardly underneath the table top for a substantial distance to enable the operator to stand close to the table. In fact it projects inwardly over the lower trackway 4 to an extent 6 to 8") which enables the operator to turn around a table corner before the machine does and still stand comfortably on the platform. It is for this reason that the base corner posts 2 are spaced about 1 foot inwardly from the corners of the trackways.

It will be appreciated that, by riding on the machine as he operates it, the operator is spared the fatigue and strain which results from walking backwardly while trying to manipulate the mattress. Since the fatigue of the operator is very substantially lessened, he is better able to exercise his care and skill in manipulating the mattress.

SEWING MACHINE The sewing machine 118 is conventionally provided with a drive pulley 19 and conventionally mounted on an inverted U-shaped support 20, the spaced-depending legs 21 of which are pivoted at 22 to the upper end portions of the front and rear walls 12 and 13 of the carriage for tilting adjustment. The sewing machine 18 and its inverted vU-shaped support 20 are adjustably tilted about the axis of leg pivots 22 by any conventional means (not shown) such as the adjusting screw means usually employed.

DMVE MEANS The drive means comprises: a Y branch power-transmitting connection having a stem and two forks; a main or common drive means beginning with a drive motor and ending with the stem of the Y connection; a carriage drive means beginning with one fork of the Y and ending with the carriage mounted pinion which engages the rack 3a on the upper trackway 3; and a sewing machine drive means beginning with the other fork of the V and ending with the drive pulley 19 of the sewing machine 18.

THE Y BRANCH CONNECTION This connection includes: a stem in the form of a power receiving pulley 25; one branch or fork in the form of shaft 26; and another branch or fork in the form of pulley 27. The pulley 25, shaft 26 and pulley 27 are all fixedly connected to each other to rotate as a unit. Consequently, when the power receiving pulley 25 is rotated, it will, in turn, drive shaft 26 and pulley 27.

MAIN OR COMMON DRIVE The main or common drive comprises: a drive motor; and a clutch-brake mechanism connecting the motor to the power receiving pulley 25, which constitutes the stem of the Y connection.

Main Drive Motor The main drive motor 30 is mounted inside the lower portion of carriage housing 9 with its drive shaft 31 (including a rigid extension thereof) extending toward the carriage housing outside wall 11. In accordance with our invention, the motor 30 is made reversible and therefore controlled by a suitable dual position direction switch (not shown) which is located on the front wall 12 of the housing where it is accessible to an operator standing on the platform 15.

Main Drive Clutch-Brake Mechanism The clutch-brake mechanism 34, which connects the motor 30' to the pulley .25 of the Y, is made in accordance with our invention. It enables the carriage and sewing machine drives to be started and stopped simultaneously. This clutch-brake mechanism 34 includes: a clutch-brake disc unit mounted on motor drive shaft 31 for slidable movement in one axial direction to a 4. driving position and in the opposite axial direction to a; braking position; and means for operating the clutchbrake disc unit.

Clutch-Brake Disc Unit The clutch-brake disc unit comprises: a power transmitting pulley which is connected to the stem 25 of the Y branch connection; a rotatable clutch disc; at nonro tatable brake disc; and means interconnecting these discs for operation as a unit to drive or brake the pulley.

The power transmitting pulley 35 of the clutch-brake disc unit is rotatably mounted on the mid-portion of the drive shaft 31 by a bearing, the inner race of which is fixed on the shaft to keep the pulley from sliding axially on the shaft while allowing it to rotate freely relative to the shaft. Preferably the pulley 35 is arranged to participate in the clutch and brake functions of the disc unit; hence both faces of the pulley 35 are lined with a conventional friction material 37 similar to that used in clutch and brake linings. The pulley 35 is connected to the stem or pulley 25 of the Y branch connection by a belt 38.

The rotatable clutch disc 39 is slidably keyed to shaft 31 for rotation therewith and for relative slidable movement axially into and out of engagement with the adjacent outer or clutch face (right face in FIG. 3) of the pulley 35. The inner or clutch face (left face in FIG. 3) of the rotatable clutch disc 39 is also lined with friction material 37 for clutch operating purposes.

The nonrotatable brake disc 41 is mounted on the shaft 31 for slidable movement only. It slides axially toward and away from the inner or braking face of pulley 35 to bring its adjacent braking face into and out of engagement with the braking face of that pulley. The motor drive shaft 31, of course, rotates freely within a central opening in this brake disc 41. The braking face of the brake disc 41 is also lined with friction material 37'.-

In order to connect the rotatable clutch disc 39 and the nonrotatable brake disc 41 for slidable movement as a unit, an auxiliary nonrotatable disc 43 is provided and mounted on an axial extension of the hub of clutch disc 39 for axial movement therewith. This auxiliary nonrotatable disc 43 is rigidly connected to the nonrotatable brake disc 41 by rods 44 extending from the periphery of one disc to the other and rigidly connected to both. Preferably, three symmetrically spaced rods 44 are provided for this purpose. The disc interconnecting rods 44 can be adjusted to vary the spacing between the pulley 35 and the clutch and brake discs 39, 41 and this spacing preferably is adjusted so that no more than a slight movement 0A" more or less) is required in either direction to eifect driving engagement on the one hand or braking engagement on the other.

It will be understood that suitable bearings are provided for mounting the stationary disc unit parts such as the brake disc 41 on shaft 31 and auxiliary disc 43 on the hub of clutch disc 39. The inner bearing race 4-5 of the auxiliary disc 43 is press fitted or otherwise firmly secured to the hub extension of clutch disc 39 so as to insure the unitary movement of these two discs in either axial direction. It will be noted that the auxiliary disc 43 and the adjacent face of the clutch disc 39 do not engage each other at any time.

Clutch-Brake Disc Unit Operating Means The clutch-brake disc unit operating means includes: means yieldably urging the unit into its pulley driving position; and a foot pedal operated linkage for moving the disc unit into its braking position.

The yieldable urging means is in the form of a spring 47 which is mounted on shaft 31 between the hub of clutch disc 39 and a retaining nut 48 threaded to the rear or free end of that shaft. This spring 47 is in a compressed condition so that it yieldably urges the disc unit as a whole toward the position in which the clutch disc 39 engages and drives the pulley 35.

The foot pedal operated linkage for the clutch-brake disc unit includes: a lever connected to the disc unit and pivotally mounted on the housing for movement toward and away from the unit braking position; a bell crank for moving the lever; and a foot pedal for operating the bell crank.

The lever is in the form of a horizontal yoke 50 having vertically-spaced horizontally-extending legs also designated 50 and a horizontal extending stem or trunk 51. The legs 50 extend above and below the disc unit and are connected to the nonrotatable brake disc 41 by pins 52 projecting vertically from the top and bottom of the nonrotatable brake disc 41 and fitting into appropriate openings in the legs 50 of the yoke 50. The yoke legs 50 are pivoted at their free ends to a suitable bracket 53 mounted on the rear wall 13 of the carriage housing 9.

The stem 51 of yoke 50 is swung toward the outside wall 13 by a bell crank 55 pivoted on the front wall 12 of the housing 9. One (vertical) arm of bell crank 55 is connected to the stem 51 by a joint permitting a limited amount of swivelling movement therebetween.

The foot pedal 57 is pivotally mounted on the operators platform to effect the braking operation when moved in the downward direction. The free end of this pedal extends into the housing and connects with the free end of the horizontal other arm of the bell crank 55.

In operation, the spring 47 normally holds the clutchbrake disc unit in its driving position. When the operator desires to stop the carriage and sewing machine drives he need only stop the pulley 35. This is done simply by stepping on the foot pedal 57 to move it downwardly and thereby operate bell crank 55 to swing the yoke 50 in the direction of the outside wall 13 to move the clutchbrake disc unit in the same direction and thereby move it out of its driving position and into its braking position. This movement stops the movement of the carriage and the operation of the sewing machine more or less instantaneously due to the load imposed on pulley 35 by the carriage and sewing machine drives. In other words, the braking force and the load cooperate to produce a fast stop.

THE CARRIAGE DRIVE MEANS A pinion 60 is mounted on the carriage 9 to engage the table rack 3a and thereby drive the carriage around the base. The pinion 69 is driven from the shaft 26 of the Y connection through a carriage drive which includes: shaft 26 of the Y connection; the gear box 63 driven by shaft 26; a carriage clutch 64 driven by gear box 63;

and pinion 6t) driven by carriage clutch 64. The car- F The drive means for the sewing machine 18 includes: the pulley 27 of the Y connection; a belt 68 driven by pulley 27; pulley 69 driven by belt 68; sewing machine clutch 70 driven by pulley 69; gear box 71 mounted on the underside of the bight of the U-shaped support and having one shaft driven by clutch 70 and a second shaft driving a pulley 72; and a belt 73 connecting pulley 72 to the drive pulley 19 of the sewing machine 18.

The sewing machine clutch 70 is yieldably held in its driving position by a link 75 which is pivoted intermediate its ends on the housing and urged in the clutch closing direction by spring 76. Link 75 may be operated in the clutch opening direction by a handle 77, which projects forwardly from one end of the link 75 through the front wall 12 of the housing. The projecting end is conveniently positioned for operation by the operator. This handle 77 is notched so that it can be latched to the front 6 wall of the housing to hold the sewing machine clutch in its open position.

OPERATION As far as we know, the carriage of conventional mattress edge-sewing machines can be driven in only one direction, namely, forwardly around the table and cannot be driven independently of the sewing machine. However, in accordance with our invention, the drive motor 30 is made reversible and the sewing machine drive is provided with a clutch 70 so as to enable the operator to drive the carriage in either direction and to do so without operating the sewing machine, particularly when the carriage is being driven rearwardly around the table.

We assume that a full size mattress 8G is placed on the table top 5 with its bottom face and peripheral border entirely covered by a bottom face panel and a border panel respectively, these panels being sewn together along the bottom of the border panel; that a top face panel is placed over the mattress with its peripheral edge in position to be sewn to the top edge of the border panel; that the main drive motor 30 will be energized upon the closure of a power supply switch which is within the reach of an operator on the platform 15; and that the carriage clutch 64 and sewing machine clutch 74B are both disengaged.

The operator may now close the power supply switch and operate the dual direction switch to energize the main motor 30 and condition the driving means for operating the carriage 9 in the desired direction. If the carriage is out of the position, at which the operator desires to start the sewing operation, he can close the power supply switch to apply power, close the direction switch to drive the drive motor 30 in the direction required to reach the starting position and close :the carriage clutch 64 to drive the carriage to the appropriate starting position where he again disengages carriage clutch 64- and, if necessary, reverses the direction switch to rotate the main drive motor 30 in the sewing direction.

With parts thus conditioned to institute the operation, the operator stands on the platform 15, opens the pedal operated main drive clutch with his foot, closes the other two clutches by hand and then overlaps the edges of the top corner panel and the adjacent border panel of mattress 89, inserts the overlapped edges into the sewing head of the sewing machine 18 and clamps the feed dogs (not shown) of the sewing head on the overlapped edges. Now, upon closing the main drive clutch, the carriage will move in the sewing direction and, as it does so, the operator will engage the face and border panels to overlap their edges and pull them into proper feeding relationship with the sewing machine as the latter advances and sews during the closing operation.

The operator rides on the carriage platform 15 as the carriage travels around the mattress 80. If he is skillful enough, he may allow the carriage to travel around the mattress at full speed while he overlaps and positions the cover edges in the front of the carriage so that they are properly received by the sewing head. An operator of lesser skill may Want to slow the carriage down at times, such as when going around the mattress corner, and, to do this, he applies partial pressure to the pedal 57 to cause the clutch disc 39 of the clutch-brake disc unit 34 to slip. In case he wants to stop the carriage, he applies full pressure to the pedal 57.

After circling the mattress 80* and returning to the point on the carriage path from which he started, the operator may step on the foot pedal 57 to stop the carriage, de-energize the motor 30 by opening its power supply switch, release the mattress from the sewing machine 18 and remove the mattress from the table. The operation 'can then be repeated on another mattress.

The foregoing apparatus is also used to close the cover of a smaller mattress such as a twin size mattress. At the outset of this operation, the mattress is positioned on the table top 5 with both of its end edges and one of its side edges respectively aligned with both end edges and one of the side edges of the table top 5. The operator may then start the sewing operation at a given point along one end edge of the mattress. Assuming this point to be at the center of one end edge, the operator than sews one-half of that end edge, all of the aligned side edge and one-half of the other end edge.

Now the operator stops the carriage 9, releases the mattress from the clamping mechanism of the sewing head, slides the mattress to the other side edge of the table to align its other side edge with the other side edge of the table, moves the carriage along said other end of the table to a location corresponding to the center of the end edge of the repositioned mattress, re-establishes the proper relationship of the mattress to the sewing head for the edge-sewing operation and completes that operation by sewing the mattress along the remaining one-half of said other end edge, all of the said other aligned side edge and the remaining one-half of the starting end edge. This completes the sewing operation on that particular mattress. Since no further shifting is required, the operator can stop the motor 36 or step on pedal 57 and thereby stop the carriage and sewing machine drives long enough to remove the finished mattress and replace it with the next mattress which is to be sewn.

It may, and usually will be desirable, to shift the mattress and the carriage at the same time so as to avoid the necessity of releasing the mattress from the sewing head at the beginning of the shifting operation and re-engaging the mattress with the sewing head at the end thereof. With a sewing apparatus constructed in accordance with our invention, it is possible to do this by opening the sewing machine clutch 70 so as to disengage the sewing machine 18 from its drive mechanism whereupon the carriage can be driven in the shifting direction simultaneously as the mattress is shifted across the table.

It will be understood of course that all of the features of this invention may be usefully employed in connection with other types of mattress sewing machines such as the roll edge machine for example.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. A mattress sewing apparatus comprising: a mattress supporting table; track means encircling said table and having a rack; a carriage mounted on said track means for movement around said table, said carriage having a drive pinion engaging said rack; a sewing machine mounted on said carriage, said sewing machine having a drive pulley; and carriage mounted drive means for said carriage and sewing machine, said drive means including a Y-branch power transmitting connection having a stem to receive power and two forks to deliver such power, a main drive means including a drive motor and an interposed mechanism including a first clutch connecting said motor to said stem, a carriage drive means including a second clutch connecting one fork of said Y to said drive pinion and a sewing machine drive means including a third clutch connecting said other fork of said Y to said drive pulley.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: said motor is reversible.

3. A mattress sewing apparatus comprising: a mattress supporting table; track means extending around said table; a carriage mounted on said track means for movement around said table; a sewing machine mounted on said carriage; transport means mounted for movement with the carriage to provide a conveyance upon which the operator of said apparatus may be operatively supported at the front end of the carriage to perform his mattress manipulating operations as the carriage travels around Said table; and drive means for said carriage and said sewing machine.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein: said transport means includes a platform connected to the lower end of said carriage.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein: said track means includes a rectangular lower track having rounded corners; and said platform projects forwardly of said carriage in its normal direction of travel around said table and inwardly over said lower track sufiiciently to provide platform support for the operator on the far side of a given table corner when the carriage closely approaches that given corner but before the carriage turns that corner so as to enable the operator to turn that particular table corner before the carriage does without getting off the platform. 7

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein: said track means is supported by inwardly offset posts; and the inward projection of the platform is less than the inward offset of said posts.

References fitted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,444,573 Voigt Feb. 6, 192 3 1,857,371 Gail May 10, 1932 2,778,465 Stenchever et al Jan. 22, 1957 2,816,435 Schurger Dec. 17, 1957 2,925,057 Cash Feb. 16, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 875,288 Germany Apr. 30, 1953 741,816 Great Britain Dec. 14, 1955 

